Middle English and Latin (the former modernized by me,
the latter translated by Riley)

Location:

London

Date:

1418-19

TRANSLATION

The mayor and aldermen order, on behalf of the king and his city, that
no-one whatsoever, regardless of status or position, during this
holy season of Christmas be so bold as to walk about at night engaging
in any fashion in mummery,
plays, interludes, or any other form
of dressing up in false beards, painted masks, or with faces made up
or altered in any way; upon penalty of imprisonment and payment of
a fine determined at the discretion of the mayor and aldermen. Except
that it is lawful for every person to make merry in a respectable manner
inside his own home. Furthermore, they order, on behalf of the king
and his city, that each respectable person who resides in any street
or lane of this city should hang from his house each night during this
solemn festival a lantern containing a candle, burning for as long as
it lasts, upon penalty for each default of 4d. paid to the Chamber.

[ .... ]

Forasmuch as it is not becoming or agreeable to propriety that those
who are in the service of reverend men, and from them or through them
have the advantage of befitting food and raiment, as also, of reward
or remuneration in a competent degree, should, after a perverse custom,
be begging aught of people, like paupers; and seeing that in times past,
every year at the Feast of Our Lord's Nativity
[25 December], according to
a certain custom, which has grown to be an abuse, the vadlets of
the Mayor, the Sheriffs, and the Chamber of the said city,  persons
who have food, raiment, and appropriate advantages, resulting from
their office,  under colour of asking for an oblation, have begged
many sums of money of brewers, bakers, cooks, and other victuallers;
and in some instances have more than once threatened wrongfully to do
them an injury if they should refuse to give them something; and have
frequently made promises to others, that in return for a present
they would pass over their unlawful doings in mute silence; to
the great dishonour of their masters, and to the common loss of all
the City:  therefore, on Wednesday, the last day of April, in
the 7th year etc., by William Sevenok, the Mayor, and the Aldermen
of London, it was ordered and established, that no vadlet or other
serjeant of the Mayor, Sheriffs, or City, should in future beg or
require of any person, of any rank, degree, or condition, whatsoever,
any moneys, under colour of an oblation, or in any other way, on pain
of losing his office.

DISCUSSION

Christmas was one festival season at which liturgical drama might
be performed. The kind of "plays" referred to here, however, are
unlikely to have been of that type  unless perverted or profaned
in form. It seems more probable that those being banned were rather
some kind of revelry  the predecessor to masques  tomfoolery,
or just plain rowdiness, perhaps distantly inspired by the religious plays,
but considered by the authorities inappropriate for Christmas. The
passage suggests that Christmas was already taking on celebratory features
in the modern sense.

Mummery in particular was a characteristic of "misrule", a concept
closely associated with Christmas. In a mayoral order sent to
the aldermen on 13 December 1405, they were reminded to keep a
well-armed nightwatch patrolling the streets throughout the
Christmas season, with special instructions to arrest anyone going about
wearing a mask or a false face, and to ensure each house had its lantern
burning outside during Christmas.

The second passage presents a different instance of misrule, in the form
of begging for a Christmas "bonus" which  following a long
tradition  has become in some cases an extortion (protection money).
Christmas was typically a season at which officials received an instalment
of their annual salary, but the bureaucratic officials (clerks, sergeants)
might also  as at fifteenth century York  receive oblations
(gratuities for good performance) on top.

NOTES

"interludes"
Relatively informal and short plays, involving few actors and little
by way of props or costumes, and lasting under an hour.